Welcome to the Reign of Grace
radio broadcast. My name is Bill Parker. I'm the
pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky.
This program is sponsored by the members of Eager Avenue Grace
Church in Albany, Georgia, located at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany,
Georgia. I'll be bringing you a gospel
message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ from God's holy word. And now the message. Welcome to our broadcast today.
Now, if you have your Bible and you'd like to follow along as
I read the scripture, I'm going to be preaching from Romans chapter
1 beginning at verse 1. Romans chapter 1 verse 1. The title of the message today
is The Gospel of God. Now the book of Romans has a
prominent place in the New Testament in that it is the first of the
New Testament epistles. And I honestly believe that God
in his good providence ordered it that way because of the fullness
of this letter, Paul's letter to the church at Rome. And its
theme is justification by the grace of God. In other words,
how sinners are justified before a holy and righteous God. To
be justified is to be saved. You know, we talk about salvation.
What is it to be saved? Well, in the Bible, Salvation
is to be justified. And the word justified means
to be declared righteous. Righteous based on God's law.
This word justification is a full word. It means to be forgiven
of all my sins. And it also means to be qualified
and fit for the presence and favor and fellowship of God.
As well as being entitled to the whole inheritance of eternal
life. So a person who is saved by God
is justified. And what Romans and the whole
Bible teaches is that justification before God is by His grace, not
based on our works or our efforts to keep the law, because we cannot
keep the law. We cannot be good enough to go
to heaven in our works. Somebody asked, how good do you
have to be to be saved or to go to heaven? Well, you have
to be perfect according to the law, and none of us are perfect,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So
we're all sinners. So the question of questions
is this, how can a sinner be justified before a holy God? And of course the answer to that
question is but one way, by the grace of God, his free gift of
salvation, in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's what
the gospel of God reveals. And that's what we're going to
look at here in Romans chapter 1, beginning at verse 1. Let's
read Romans 1.1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. Now,
Paul identifies himself here in three ways. First of all,
he says he's a servant of Jesus Christ. And you need to understand
that this person, this man, whom God the Holy Spirit used to write
this letter, Paul, before he was saved, he was Saul of Tarsus. He was an enemy of Jesus Christ,
one who hated the true and living God in his religion. He thought
that he served and believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, the God of the Old Testament. But he come to find out that
he was lost, and God stopped him on the Damascus Road and
broke broke this rebel and saved him from his sin. That revelation
of Jesus Christ, the Saul of Tarsus. And now he says not only
is he not an enemy of Jesus Christ, but he's a servant of Jesus Christ. And that word servant there is
bond slave. He is a willing and loving bond
slave of Jesus Christ. Now that word bond slave comes
from the Old Testament. In the Old Testament there was
the law of bond slavery. When a man became in debt to
the point that he could not pay himself out of debt, he was to
be indebted to the person to whom he owed the debt. He became
that person's servant and slave. And he served that person for
seven years until the debt was paid. At the end of the seven
years, if he wanted to, willingly, because he loved his master,
and because his master loved him, he could become a bond slave
of his master. In other words, he would be a
servant to his master, not because he had to be, not because he
was forced to be, but because he wanted to be a servant. And that's what it is when God
saves a sinner. A saved sinner becomes a willing,
loving bond slave of Christ. We serve Christ not because we
have to, not because we owe a debt to God's law and justice, but
because we want to. He has drawn our hearts out toward
Him. You see, many people today claim
to be servants of Christ, but they think they're paying a debt.
They think they have to earn their salvation from God. They
think they have to meet certain conditions in order to be saved
or to stay saved. That's not a bond slave. That's
a legal forced slavery. But Paul says he's a bond slave
of Jesus Christ. And then secondly, he says he's
called to be an apostle. He was called by Christ to this
office. to be an apostle, one who received
the Word of God directly from the Lord Jesus Christ, one who
had the authority to deliver the Word of God. There are no
apostles today. That was an office back then
given to twelve men that they would be the heads of the church,
they would be the instruments which God would use to start
churches. Christ is the head, but these men were under shepherds.
And God used them mightily in the early period of the New Testament
to form his churches and to bring the word of God. And then he
says, thirdly, he separated unto the gospel of God. Now, what
is it that separates God's people from the world? Most people,
when they think about separation, they think about things like
touch not, taste not, handle not. What they don't do, what
they don't see, what they refuse to watch, what they refuse to
eat or drink. what they refuse to handle. But
Paul in Colossians chapter 2 says that that's not separation from
the world, that's identification with the world. Any person who
thinks that their distinction as a servant of Christ is in
what they don't do as far as taste, not touch, not handle,
not in a legal way, is actually, without their knowing it, identifying
with the lost religious world. But Paul says here that what
separated him from the world is the gospel of God. Now that
word gospel means good news. So he's talking about some good
news that originates from God, not from man. In other words,
this gospel is not of man. Man didn't write it. Man didn't
come up with it. It didn't have its origin in
man. It's the gospel of God. God, who from the beginning chose
a people out of Adam's fallen race and gave them to his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. and put all the responsibility
of their full salvation upon Christ and upon Him alone. God,
who sent His Son into this world to stand in the place of His
people, to obey the law for them perfectly, and to go to the cross
of Calvary, shedding His blood for their sins, to satisfy law
and justice, and establish the only righteousness by which sinners
can be justified before God. It is the gospel of God. It's
the gospel of grace. God who is sovereign saves in
sovereign mercy and sovereign grace. My friend, listen to me.
God will never save any sinner based on anything that that sinner
does because God is a holy God. He's a righteous God. He judges
according to truth. Yes, He is merciful and He's
gracious and He's loving, but He must also be just and holy
and righteous. And here's the question of questions.
How can God be both a righteous, holy judge, and judge according
to truth, while at the same time be a merciful, loving, and gracious
Father? Well, here's some good news.
God can be a just God and a Savior based on the blood and the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's the good news. God
will save any sinner who comes to Him pleading the merit of
the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you come
pleading anything else, plead your work, plead what you admire,
plead your heritage, plead your social graces, plead anything
you want. If you plead anything but the
merit of the finished work of Christ, you will not be saved.
Now look at verse 2. Now here he has a parenthesis
here. He says, this gospel of God which
he had promised afore or before by his prophet in the Holy Scripture."
Now Paul is saying here that this gospel of God is nothing
new. It's the same gospel that God
revealed and preached in the Old Testament through Moses and
the prophets from the very beginning. Everything that God has for sinners
by way of good news is in this gospel of God's salvation in
the Lord Jesus Christ by the free and sovereign grace of God. And he promised this before by
his prophets. That's all the prophets of the
Old Testament. You see, my friend, we need to
understand that the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation is
a book about Christ. Christ is the subject. He's the
object. He's the central theme of Genesis
to Revelation. Genesis is just as much about
Christ Genesis, which is the book of beginnings, talks about
creation, the beginning of nation. Genesis is just as much about
Christ as the book of Revelation, as the book of Romans. In the
book of Genesis, Christ is revealed as the seed of woman, the one
who would come and take care of the serpent, Satan, and destroy
the work that Satan had done in the people of God. He's also
the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the King of Kings. In Exodus,
He's the Passover Lamb, whose blood was shed as the payment
for the sins of the people. You see, there was no salvation
in the blood of an animal, but that animal typified and pictured
and pointed to the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb
that was slain from the foundation of the world. So in Exodus, He's
the Lamb of God, the Passover Lamb. In Leviticus, he's the
high priest, he's the tabernacle, he's the mercy seat, he's the
ark of the covenant, he's the blood of the animals, all the
sacrifices, everything in that priesthood and in that tabernacle
typifies, foreshadows some aspect of the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ so that people under that covenant were
to understand that that law, the law of Moses, was a schoolmaster
to lead sinners unto Christ. In the book of Numbers, he's
the brazen serpent lifted up on a pole to which Moses instructed
the people to look for a cure. He's the only cure for the poison
of sin that runs through our hearts and our minds. In the
book of Deuteronomy, he's that prophet that Moses spoke of who
is the embodiment of the Word of God. He is the eternal logo. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. You see, he
is that prophet. He is the lawgiver, and he's
the fulfiller of the law. And we could go on and on and
on. The Old Testament preached the same gospel that the New
Testament preaches. So he promised this before by
his prophet in the Holy Scriptures. Now look at verse 3 of Romans
chapter 1. The next thing that the apostle
brings forth here is that this gospel of God concerns a person. We've been talking about that.
The gospel, as I said, is the good news of eternal salvation,
the complete forgiveness of all my sins, complete fitness and
qualification for God's fellowship and favor to commune with God.
and a complete whole entitlement, eternal entitlement, to the whole
inheritance of grace and glory, heaven itself, and all the glories
and riches of heaven, all of those things, the gospel shows
that they are all fulfilled and obtained by Jesus Christ, the
Lord of glory. So look at verse 3. This gospel
of God concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, And he says,
which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
and then read on to verse 4, and declared to be the Son of
God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. Now there are several things
here brought out. Again, as I said, the gospel of God is the good
news of salvation and everything that's included in salvation
based on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, how can I
know that this person, Jesus Christ, is qualified and able
to do the work that the Father sent him to do? How can I know
that? Well, that's because of who he is, his person. And that's what Paul's saying
here. This gospel concerns Jesus Christ, our Lord, and he says,
which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh.
Now, that speaks of the humanity of Christ. The one who saves
sinful men from their sins must be man himself without sin. Christ was made of the seed of
David. That speaks of His humanity. He was fully human, body and
soul. He was born of the Virgin Mary.
His humanity was created in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the
Holy Spirit, body and soul. In order to take my place, in
order to assume responsibility for my salvation, in order to
keep the law as my substitute in surety, in order to go to
the cross and die for my sins charged to his account, he had
to be man without sin. Now an imperfect man could not
stand in my place because an imperfect man would be a sinner
like me. But this person, who is man,
was sinlessly perfect and he came and he assumed human nature
to take my place, to take the place of his sheep. He said,
I laid down my life for the sheep. Well, who were his sheep? Sinful
men and women. So he had to be man. He had to
be the seed of woman. Now he could not be born of man,
of Adam, like you and I are, because that would make him a
sinner. But he was born miraculously of the Virgin Mary, the seed
of woman conceived not by man, but by the Holy Spirit in the
womb of the Virgin. And that way he could shed his
blood. You see, God cannot die. God cannot suffer and bleed and
die, but this person who is God did suffer and bleed and die
for his people. And he satisfied law and justice,
so he was made of the seed of David. That's according to prophecy,
the line of the tribe of Judah, the kingly line, and that's the
instrument through which God brought the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now it says in verse 4, he was declared to be the Son of God. You see, the language here is
specific. He wasn't made to be the Son of God. The Son of God
was not something that he had to earn. He was and is by nature
the Son of God. In other words, that speaks of
his deity. He is both God and man in one
person. Somebody told me one time that
that's mind-boggling. Well, you bet it is. But this
is the mediator. This is the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is God. Now, don't hesitate
on that. A man in our church was asking
one of his co-workers one time, he said, do you believe that
Jesus is God? And the man who claimed to be
a Christian turned around and said to him, he said, well, no,
he's the son of God. Now, listen to me very carefully. To say that he's the son of God
does not mean that he's a lesser God or that he's not quite God
or that he is something in between God and man. Now, he is a mediator.
But listen to me. He is very God of very God. Jesus Christ is 100% God as if
He were never man, and He's 100% man as if He were never God.
He's God and man, both 100%. Don't ever hesitate. Listen, if you worship Him and
you serve Him, but you don't see Him as God, you know what
that makes you? It makes you an idolater. God alone is to
be worshipped. God alone is to be praised and
served. God alone can save. And Jesus
Christ is God in human flesh. Now, there are denominations
who claim to be Christian, who deny his deity. My friends, stay
clear of that. They deny the Lord Jesus Christ,
and there's no good news in their gospel. Listen, if salvation
is to come from God to sinful men and women, It must be God
Himself in human flesh who takes our place as our substitute,
as our surety. You see, He must bring forth
a righteousness that we cannot produce. It cannot be the righteousness
of mere man. It must be the righteousness
of God in order to save us from our sins. And it says here that
He was declared to be the Son of God with power. That is with
the power of God that raised him from the dead according to
the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Now
you know what the resurrection from the dead here means more
than simply he came out of the grave. Now we know that's true.
And we know that's a miraculous thing. God, God the Father, raised
his son from the dead. And that's to be attributed to
his humanity because in himself he was life and is life. So God
raised him from the dead. He resurrected. Now what does
that mean? I'll tell you exactly what it
means. It means the work that He came to do is totally finished. He didn't leave it undone. You
see, He died because of sin charged to Him. The Bible says God made
Him to be sin, Christ who knew no sin. He didn't commit any
sin, yet He died on the cross of Calvary, but He died under
the legal judgment of sin not for sins that he personally committed,
but for the sins of his sheep, the sins of his people, the sins
of God's elect. He went there and suffered and
bled and died for sins that he did not personally commit. He
went there for the sins of his people, and he died. He suffered,
bled, and he died because sin, charged to his account, demanded
his death. But in his death, we see a full
satisfaction to the justice of God against the sins of his people. Therefore, in his death, he not
only died for sin, but he established righteousness, and righteousness
demands life. Therefore, the grave could not
hold him. He came out of that grave because he finished the
work that he was sent to do. He fulfilled all the conditions
of salvation. You see, there are conditions
for salvation, but none of those conditions are upon us. They
were all laid upon Christ. And he fulfilled the condition,
and he came out of that grave. But listen to me. He didn't come
out of that grave just for himself. The Bible says he came out of
that grave for his people. He raised, he came to this earth,
he kept the law, he suffered, he bled, he died, he was buried,
and he was raised again the third day for his people. And who are
they? I'll tell you who they are. Everyone
who comes to hear and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
exactly who he died for, that's who he was buried for, and that's
who he was resurrected for. My friend, there's not one person
whom Christ represented in his death, burial, and resurrection
that will end up in hell. Because you know why? Righteousness
demands life. Well, look at verse 5. Now he
says, Paul writes here, he says, by whom we have received grace
and apostleship. Notice he says, by whom. In other
words, it's in Christ that Paul had received grace, the grace
of salvation, the grace of the gifts of the Spirit, even faith
and repentance, all of the work of the Holy Spirit. That's the
new birth. That's the Spirit giving spiritual life, raising
a sinner from the dead, giving that sinner faith to hear and
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and bringing that sinner to repentance
of his own work, his dead works and idolatry. It is in Christ
that we who believe the Gospel have received those things. And
whatever office that we're called to or whatever gifts that we're
given, that's through Christ too. And Paul was talking about
his apostleship. The reason he was saved was by
the grace of God. The reason he was given the gifts
and the office of an apostle was by the grace of God in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now he says, for obedience to
the faith among all nations for his name. In other words, Paul
was called, given this grace, called to this office for the
obedience to the faith. The faith there means the truth,
that body of truth, the gospel of God, the good news of salvation,
conditioned on Christ, the good news of the finished work of
Christ, the finished work of the God-man. And he says, among
all nations. In other words, he was to preach
this gospel to all nations. A gospel preacher does not have
the choice of preaching to this one and not that one. You see,
the Bible tells us, our Lord gave the disciples this commission.
He said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. We're
to preach the gospel to everyone who will listen. Everyone we
have opportunity to preach it. And Paul says it's for his name.
Now, when you see the name, the word name there as applying to
God, as applying to the Lord Jesus Christ, It means who he
is, his character, it means his glory. In other words, Paul's
saying, I've received this salvation, these gifts, this office for
the obedience to the faith, to preach it everywhere for the
glory of God. I'm not in it to make a name
for myself. That's not why we have this program. It's not for
me to make a name for Bill Parker. It's for the glory of God. I
don't want to preach me. I don't want to promote me. I
want to promote Christ. I want to preach Him, whom to
know is life. I don't want you to be directed
to me. I want you to be directed to Christ, to see that He is
the only hope of salvation. And he goes on in verse 6, he
says, Among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ? Those
who believe the gospel have been called by the Spirit through
the preaching of the gospel. You know the word church in the
original language means called out one. They've been called
out of the world and into the church. Now, how are they called
out? They are called out by the power of the Holy Spirit through
the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They've been called
to Him. They've been called to look to Christ. Don't look to
the preacher. Don't look to the denomination. Don't look to mom
and dad. Don't look to some old profession.
Look to Christ. And then verse 7, he says, to
all that be in Rome, that is to all the believers in the church
at Rome, Beloved of God. In other words, Paul recognized
the love of God upon them. How? Because they believed the
gospel. They weren't under God's wrath.
They had come out from under God's wrath in Christ, called
to be saints. The word saint means set apart,
sanctified ones. A saint is not a Christian who
has done great things for God or who has reached great heights
of personal holiness. The moment God saves a sinner,
He makes that sinner a saint. And you know how we become saints?
Not by our works and efforts, not by great prayers that we
pray, not by giving lots of money. We become saints by the grace
of God based on the blood and the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everyone who's been called out
of the world by the Spirit into the church, everyone who's been
saved by the grace of God is a saint right now. You don't
have to be canonized or boated on, you're a saint, you're made
so by the grace of God. And then he says, grace to you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Before
there can be peace with God, there must be the grace of God.
For peace with God, between God and sinners, comes by his grace
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's the gospel of God,
and I hope that you'll seek that and study it and consider it.
Now if you'd like a copy of this message and one other on an audio
cassette tape or a CD, please send two dollars to the address
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you'll join us next week for another message from God's Word. We're glad you could join us
for today's message. If you would like to receive
a copy of this message, or if you would like more information
about Eager Avenue Grace Church, remember we are located at 1102
Eager Drive in Albany, Georgia. You can call us at 229-432-6969. or visit our Reign of Grace website
at www.rofgrace.com. Thank you, and may the Lord be
with you.